This 78-card deck is a modern
restoration/recreation of the Tarot of Marseilles, like the Camoin. According to
Hadar, his work consisted of “hunting down, behind the exterior of each card,
the thread and the forgotten detail that suggested what the original had to be.”
As far as I can tell, Hadar is quite consistent in doing so and clarifies some
of the more ambiguous details. One of the oddest additions Hadar has
made, though, is the beam of light above the head of some of
the figures, such as La Papesse (The Papess).

The Tarot of Marseilles is usually
determined to have come into being around the 18th
century, but Hadar is convinced that its origin lies in the 12th
century, as a way to protect the knowledge inherited
from the French Occitan culture that the church sought to suppress. Hadar
considers Tarot to be “the first book that allowed illiterates to be able to
reflect and meditate on their eternal salvation and their quest of the self.”
This sure is an interesting and tempting theory, but keep in mind that it’s
still only a theory: there is no definite historical proof to back it up.

The Tarot of Marseilles was one of the
primary sources for the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS), but
so many changes were made both in meaning and sequence (e.g.,
in the Marseilles, Justice is VIII and Strength is XI), that it wouldn’t be a
good idea to approach this deck with the RWS in mind.
The influence of the Tarot of Marseilles is visible in other decks as well, such
as the Tarot Nova, the Lo Scarabeo
Secret Tarots, and even the Fey Tarot.

Although naming one’s deck “the
authentic Tarot of Marseilles” seems rather pretentious, it’s natural
that Hadar is proud of his work. It’s clear that this was a labor of love and
that a lot of care went into the choices for the cards--let’s
not forget that Hadar spent more than 20 years researching
his deck. The cards are more
detailed than other versions and are shown in their full beauty. Particular
attention has also been spent to the reversiblecard backs;
they are a true pleasure to view. The use of color in the deck is very
attractive and a lot softer on
the eyes than the glaring hues
of the Camoin, yet
the original woodcut-like feeling is still preserved. This is especially evident
when compared to the standard Grimaud Tarot of Marseilles (see the images of
La Maison Dieu and the
Seven of Swords for a
comparison).

As one can expect with a Tarot of
Marseilles, the titles of the cards are in French. The pip cards don’t have a
title, but one can simply count how many of the suit symbols are portrayed.

In the Marseilles, the Major Arcana
takes off with Arcanum I, Le Basteleur (in modern
spelling, Bateleur) -
not with The Fool. Bateleurs used to travel from town to town, entertaining,
telling stories and performing tricks. Like all the figures in the Tarot of
Marseilles, this guy looks very approachable. He’s dressed in bright colors and
no doubt has an equally colorful personality. There are all kinds of tools on
his little table and in his hands: there are coins, a stick, knifes and goblets,
as if they are the elements and suit symbols in their most practical form. An
interesting detail is the fact that his table only has three legs - maybe
there’s still something missing?

Each card has a mysterious depth to
it, so that studying this deck can feel like a treasure hunt. La Roue de Fortune
(The Wheel of Fortune) is especially intriguing. Together with La Lune (The
Moon), they are
the only cards of the Major Arcana that show no
human figures;
instead,in Trump X, there are animals dressed up in
skirts and capes, crawling over a wheel that appears to float on waves.
Ironically, no one controls the handgrip, but the wheel turns by their own
doing. A crowned and winged sphinx sits above, bringing to mind the myth of
Oedipus.

There’s no gloomy Tower in this
deck - Arcanum XVI is named La Maison
Dieu (The House of God) and
shows a tower bursting open while the sky is filled with brightly-colored
dots, with
two people suspended in the air, smiling. They reach for the ground as if they
are very pleased to be brought back down to earth.

Le Fol (The Fool--at
top) is unnumbered in the
Marseilles - aptly, it’s the only card that is not part of any sequence or
structure. The man depicted
looks up towards the sky and seems unaware of the animal scratching his
buttocks, so that there’s something about him that is not entirely human, as if
he’s already gone
“beyond.”
Then
there’s his uncanny resemblance to the skeleton in Arcanum XIII, a card that is
unnamed and thus sometimes referred to as L’Arcane Sans Nom (The Arcanum Without
a Name).

The Minor Arcana offers a challenge
because of their
non-scenic pip cards, but I found them to be quite evocative and meaningful when
I spent some time with them. Bear in mind, however, that when you approach the
cards with an open mind, you’ll come up with very different meanings than those
of the RWS.

The four suits are Bastons
(Batons), Coupes (Cups), Deniers (Coins) and Espees (Swords). (‘Wands’ and
‘Pentacles’ were
an invention of the Golden Dawn.) The court cards consist of Vaslet (Page),
Chevalier (Knight), Royne (Queen) and Roi (King). Here,
too,
the older French spelling of the words is respected.

The flower and plant patterns on
the pip cards help uncover the meaning. Each
can also
easily be connected to
its numeric equivalent in the Major Arcana and its elemental attribution. For
example, the Four of Coins
shows, amongst other things, a shield,
and strong, not very pliable stems which
convey security, protection and stability. The card can also be associated with
the fourth Arcanum, the Emperor, and with the Earth, reinforcing thoughts of
being down-to-earth, reliable,
and grounded.

The colorsenhance
our understanding of the
card, as well. Unlike the Grimaud, the
central sword on the Hadar Seven of
Swords has a bright red
blade, reminding me of warmth and virility. I imagine it could depict a heated discussion, the flame
of a fight,
or even sexual attraction. It makes me think that a combination has been reached
of passion (the heart) and intellect (the mind), which again is reinforced by
the connection with The Chariot (Arcanum VII) and the number seven
itself (as it can be broken down to
three and four).

The Baton court cards are
particularly interesting. The baton of the Page of Batons is still a crude
branch, and the
boy doesn’t look directly at the suit symbol (none of the Pages do), but gently
holds it in his hands and points it towards the ground. You just know that the
branch is full of potential, but that he’s still familiarizing himself with its/his
energy. The Knight, however, unlocks its
power and holds it aloft.
And when you look at the Queen and King, you’ll find that their batons have
evolved into polished and refined attributes...

The deck comes with a Little White
Booklet in French--all
the quotations in this review are my personal translation.
The LWB shares information
about tarot history and readings, and offers short, very limited keywords for
each card. For example, the Bateleur
is interpreted as: “The
principle of the active creator, potential, impulse and origin. Upright: An
event that starts well. Reversed: Difficult starting point.” In
a particular section of the LWB, Hadar explains the pregnancy of the
Queen of Swords and the
winding stairs featured on the card as symbols of the descent into the deepest
parts of oneself. That’s a lovely thought and I would have liked to see similar
information about the other cards as well, but,
at the same time,
I am grateful that much remains a mystery, left up to us to find out.

Overall, I think this is a
wonderful deck, superior to many other decks on the market today. The long
tradition of the Tarot of Marseilles combined with the care and work of Hadar
creates an amazing profundity and guarantees that you’ll never know everything
there is to know about it. I would recommend it to any tarot enthusiast who
feels drawn to these images and is willing to think outside of the RWS
(or Thoth) box...

Thijs is eighteen and currently
studying in Ghent, Belgium. His love for Tarot blends in perfectly with his
interest in history, art and mythology. Thijs is also a member of the
Tarot of Marseilles Study
Forum.